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Miguel Najdorf

MIGUEL NAJDORF (born Apr-15-1910, died Jul-04-1997, 87 years old) Poland (federation/nationality Argentina) [what is this?] Moishe Mendel (Mieczysław) Najdorf (NIGH-dorf) was born in Warsaw. He was a pupil of Savielly Tartakower. At the age of 20, he had become a Polish National Master. He played for Poland in the Chess Olympiads of 1935, 1937, and 1939. Najdorf was playing at the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1939 when World War II broke out, and decided not to attempt to return home, taking Argentine citizenship (1944) and adopting the first name Miguel. His family members died in German concentration camps. In 1950, he was one of the 27 players to whom FIDE first awarded the official International Grandmaster title. In 1943, he set the record for simultaneous games played. He played 202 players, scoring +182 -8 =12. In 1947, he played 45 games simultaneously blindfolded, then a record, scoring +39 -2 =4. In the late 1930s and 1940s he established himself as one of the world's best players. He won Budapest (1936) (tied with Lajos Steiner), Buenos Aires (1939) (tied with Paul Keres), Buenos Aires Circulo (1941) (tied with Gideon Stahlberg), Mar del Plata (1942), Mar del Plata (1943), Mar del Plata (1944) (tied with Herman Pilnik), Mar del Plata (1946) (three points ahead of Stahlberg), Prague (1946), Rio de Janeiro (1946), Mar del Plata (1947), and Venice (1948). In 1949, he drew matches against both Reuben Fine (each scoring +2 =4 -2) and Petar Trifunovic (each scoring +1 =10 -1). Najdorf was a strong contender to be included in the FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948), particularly since he had won Prague (1946), which had been conceived of as a qualifying tournament for the world championship, but he was not invited. Chessmetrics ranks him the No. 2 player in the world in March 1948, behind only Botvinnik and ahead of the other four participants: Paul Keres (#4), Max Euwe (#6), Vasily Smyslov (#7), and Samuel Reshevsky (#12). In the 1950s Najdorf competed in several major international events, including two Candidates tournaments. He won the Argentinian championship eight times (1949, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1960, 1964, 1967, 1975) and he continued to promote chess in his adopted country until his death in 1997. Shortly before his 60th birthday, he was still strong enough to play ninth board for the World team in the USSR vs. Rest of the World (1970) match. He tied former world champion Tal, each scoring +1 =2 -1. A profound theorist, he contributed many opening ideas, notably one of the most popular chess openings of all time, the Sicilian Najdorf (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6), which is played in about 3% of all games. Wikipedia article: Miguel Najdorf Chessmetrics March 1948 rating list: http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/... Last updated: 2023-04-21 08:34:28

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page 1 of 71; games 1-25 of 1,768  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Najdorf vs M Frenkel 1-0 20 1928 Lodz B70 Sicilian, Dragon Variation 2. A Szpiro vs Najdorf 0-1 22 1928 Lodz Ch D60 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 3. Najdorf vs T Regedzinski   1-0 37 1928 Lodz-ch B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 4. Najdorf vs Margolin   1-0 25 1929 Warsaw Association Tt C13 French 5. D Daniuszewski vs Najdorf 0-1 28 1929 Lodz A47 Queen's Indian 6. Najdorf vs Gliksberg 1-0 21 1929 Lodz C10 French 7. M Czerniak vs Najdorf 0-1 48 1929 Match game 3 E60 King's Indian Defense 8. Glucksberg vs Najdorf 0-1 22 1930 Warsaw A85 Dutch, with c4 & Nc3 9. Najdorf vs P Frydman   1-0 41 1931 Warsaw D05 Queen's Pawn Game 10. L Kremer vs Najdorf   0-1 35 1931 Warsaw E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 11. L Kremer vs Najdorf   0-1 38 1933 Warszawi Klub Szachistow ClubFoundation D92 Grunfeld, 5.Bf4 12. Najdorf vs L Kremer   1-0 35 1933 Warszawi Klub Szachistow ClubFoundation E17 Queen's Indian 13. Najdorf vs P Frydman   1-0 36 1933 Warszawi Klub Szachistow ClubFoundation A47 Queen's Indian 14. Najdorf vs L Kremer   ½-½ 57 1934 Warsaw 6Players D02 Queen's Pawn Game 15. O Karlin vs Najdorf   0-1 34 1934 Match A04 Reti Opening 16. Najdorf vs Spielmann ½-½ 42 1934 Warsaw E23 Nimzo-Indian, Spielmann 17. Najdorf vs Pilz 1-0 29 1934 Warsaw E38 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, 4...c5 18. Najdorf vs H Scheier   1-0 32 1934 POL Team-ch02 D05 Queen's Pawn Game 19. Najdorf vs T Regedzinski   1-0 34 1934 POL Team-ch02 A47 Queen's Indian 20. Najdorf vs Shlomo Tirsztejn 1-0 20 1934 2nd Polish Team Championship E60 King's Indian Defense 21. J Jagielski vs Najdorf 0-1 36 1934 Warsaw Club Ch E12 Queen's Indian 22. Najdorf vs I Aloni   1-0 35 1935 Polish Championship E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3 23. J Kolski vs Najdorf   0-1 16 1935 POL-ch03 A47 Queen's Indian 24. Najdorf vs S Kohn   1-0 41 1935 POL-ch03 A46 Queen's Pawn Game 25. Najdorf vs F Sulik 1-0 32 1935 Polish Championship D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav  page 1 of 71; games 1-25 of 1,768

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 10 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-15-09    WhiteRook48: Happy Birthday Jul-23-09    Augalv: All my gratitude to this chess legend who probably did more for the chess of my country Argentina than anybody else in the history of the game. Thank you Don Miguel, may you rest in piece. Jan-13-10    The Famous Chess Cat: <brankat> Excellent compilation! Apr-15-10    Barok Espinosa: It's your birth anniversary , Don Miguel and you're not forgotten. For as long as there is an 1. e4 ... , your name will forever be etched in the annals of chess and in our memory... May you rest in Peace! May-17-10    jessicafischerqueen: <NEW CHESS <<<history>>> VIDEO>!!!!! "THE SICILIAN VESPERS" starring User: crawfb5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJ_... Chess is a unique game due to its rich history- whenever any of us plays, we follow in the footsteps of past Masters. This is the story of Larry Crawford, a strong player who recently "played in to" a very famous, and interesting, incident in Chess History: the "Sicilian Vespers" episode between the Russians and the Argentines at the Goteborg Interzonal in 1955. The story continued a few years later in 1958 when a 15 year old Bobby Fischer stunned Gligoric by reviving the "Sicilian Vespers" line at the Potoroz Interzonal in 1958. I urge all chessplayers to examine their games against a good database to see which famous episodes of Chess History YOU might be participating in!! Here is the PGN file of Crawford's game: [Event "Challenge"] [Site "http://www.queenalice.com/game.php?..."] [Date "2010.2.15"] [Round "-"] [White "crawfb5"] [Black "borghese"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2237"] [BlackElo "2405"] [ECO "B98"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. fxg5 Nfd7 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Qh5+ Kf8 13. Bb5 Ne5 14. Bg3 Rh7 15. Bxe5 dxe5 16. Rd1 Nd7 17. Qg6 Rf7 18. Qxh6+ Kg8 19. g6 Rg7 20. Bc4 Qb6 21. Nd5 Qc5 22. Ne3 Nf8 23. O-O Nxg6 24. Kh1 Nf4 25. Rxf4 exf4 26. Nf5 Rf7 27. Bxe6 Bxe6 28. Qxe6 Rd8 29. Rxd8+ Bxd8 30. Nh6+ Kg7 31. Qxf7+ Kxh6 32. Qxf4+ Bg5 33. Qf7 Qxc2 34. Qf8+ Kh5 35. Qf3+ Kh6 36. Qf8+ Kg6 37. Qf5+ Kh6 38. Qf8+ Kh5 39. Qf3+ Kh6 40. Qf8+ Kh7 41. Qf7+ Kh6 42. Qf8+ Kg6 43. Qf5+ Kh5 44. Qf3+ Kg6 45. Qf5+ Kh6 46. Qf8+ Kh7 47. Qf7+ Kh6 1/2-1/2 May-18-10    Fusilli: <AnalyzeThis: No, Najdorf was a ladies man if ever there was one.... like Capablanca.> Najdorf married three times, and all three times he ended up a widower. His first wife died in a concentration camp. His second and third wives (both Argentine) died of cancer, if memory serves. His last wife died a year or so before he did. May-18-10    Fusilli: Wow, El Viejo would have been 100 last April 15. <Augalv>, was there some kind of commemoration in Argentina? Maybe at Club Argentino? Jul-17-10    vonKrolock: <“Chess is my passion. When playing chess, especially blitz, I forget all the troubles of daily life. I feel like listening to music since chess resembles a symphony by Mozart to me. It inspires me with new ideas, revives my fighting spirit."> A Memorial in Warsaw starts today (Najdorf, hero of two worlds ...) http://www.poloniachess.pl/najdorf2... (Central European Summer Time = UTC +2) thanks to <Tabanus> for this link Jul-17-10    Augalv: <Fusilli> El Viejo was commemorated at the ITT Magistral del Bicentenario Ciudad de Lanús which took place in April this year. Aug-04-10    ycbaywtb: <<<Fusilli: <AnalyzeThis: No, Najdorf was a ladies man if ever there was one.... like Capablanca.> Najdorf married three times, and all three times he ended up a widower. His first wife died in a concentration camp. His second and third wives (both Argentine) died of cancer, if memory serves. His last wife died a year or so before he did.>>> i can't imagine what that would be like living knowing your young wife had been put to death in a concentration camp///so sad... Aug-22-10    dmillergp: Fischer actually became much more friendly towards Najdorf in the years before his world champ win Sep-26-10    Fusilli: <ycbaywtb: ... i can't imagine what that would be like living knowing your young wife had been put to death in a concentration camp///so sad...> And their baby. And dozens of relatives. Najdorf said that the main reason why he gave massive blinfold simul exhibitions after the war was so that he would appear in the newspapers and maybe would be spotted and contacted by surviving relatives if there was any. No one ever came forward. He rebuilt his life in Argentina, though. With his second wife he had two daughters. Dec-21-10    kevins55555: This is the position he made: Sicilian Najdorf. click for larger view Jan-05-11    wordfunph: Boris Spassky's favorite chess anecdote according to Dimitrije Bjelica: "During the Olympiad in Bulgaria in 1962, I was standing near Najdorf's table and saw that he was short of time. He had only about one minute left for ten moves, and exactly at that moment when he was on the move, a pretty young girl, a photographer, came up to him and asked him to smile for a photograph. Najdorf turned his head to face her, smiled --- and still had time to win the game.", Spassky narrated. :-) Jan-09-11    jessicafischerqueen: <Najdorf's> contribution to Polish chess history is discussed in part three of this documentary video: <Akiva Rubinstein and Polish Chess> Now with voice-over narration. Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi3h... Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQQO... Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqG... Feb-14-11    wordfunph: Indonesia's Professor Wotulo, a good friend of GM Miguel Najdorf, told Paul Motwani a very amusing story. Apparently Efim Bogoljubow reckoned that he would need to beat Najdorf in the last round of a tournament in Stockholm in order to win the first prize. So, prior to the game, Bogoljubow bought Najdorf a large bottle of scotch whisky! The strong stuff had the opposite effect to the desired one: Najdorf won in scintillating style and was awarded the Best Game Prize. His words to Bogoljubow after the game showed typical good humor: "If you want a point from me, just give me water!" (Source: S.T.A.R. Chess by Paul Motwani) Mar-25-11    Fusilli: <wordfunph> That is funny! Unfortunately, there are no games between the two of them in this database. Can someone dig it out somewhere? Aug-09-11    Everett: <Fusilli: <AnalyzeThis: No, Najdorf was a ladies man if ever there was one.... like Capablanca.> Najdorf married three times, and all three times he ended up a widower. His first wife died in a concentration camp. His second and third wives (both Argentine) died of cancer, if memory serves. His last wife died a year or so before he did.> I wonder if his friends also started to worry about their health! Feb-01-12    Antiochus: "Young people do not think with their little heads, now everybody have computers." Miguel Najdorf Feb-03-12    Antiochus: "If Fischer played against Kasparov in 1992, he would lose. But if we could give him five years to study and decrease five years of his age, I would not say who would win." Miguel Najdorf Feb-24-12    whiteshark: < Quote of the Day < I do not believe the Soviet players are more talented than the others; they are just more inclined to consider chess work than play. >> ~ Najdorf Here he put up a smokescreen... Feb-24-12    Penguincw: Quote of the Day < "I do not believe the Soviet players are more talented than the others; they are just more inclined to consider chess work than play." > --- Najdorf Mar-08-12    shishio71: Oh man, the Fischer vs. Kasparov argument even surfaces here? I think Kasparov would've wiped the floor with him in 92, but put them both in their prime and it's a match for the ages. ...Also, Why is there not a notable game for Najdorf with the ever-original title 'The Najdorf Variation'? Or is there one and I'm not finding it? Mar-08-12    brankat: <shishio71> <..Also, Why is there not a notable game for Najdorf with the ever-original title 'The Najdorf Variation'? Or is there one and I'm not finding it?> Najdorf may have come up with the idea, but had not had a chance to play a "notable" game with the Variation :-) Apr-15-12    wordfunph: "If you want to succeed, put chess first in your life. But that is not enough, you must also put it second and third, as Fischer has done!" - Miguel Najdorf happy birthday, Maestro Miguel! Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 10) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 10 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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